Ray Leonard vs Thomas Hearns

Ray Leonard became the undisputed welterweight champion at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, on September 16, 1981, when he stopped Thomas Hearns at 1 minute 45 seconds of the fourteenth round of their scheduled 15-round championship contest. Leonard, the WBC champion, weighed 146 lb. Hearns, the WBA champion, weighed 145 lb. Davey Pearl was the referee. The bout was promoted by Main Events before a sold-out crowd of 23,618 in a temporary outdoor arena built over the Caesars Palace tennis courts.

The contest brought together the two outstanding welterweights of the period. Leonard, from Palmer Park, Maryland, entered with a record of 30 wins and one defeat. Hearns, from Detroit and the Kronk Gym, was unbeaten in 32 contests, with 30 knockouts. Leonard was guaranteed $8 million, and Hearns was guaranteed $5 million. The fight was shown on closed-circuit television in 298 locations in the United States and Canada, offered on pay-per-view in selected cities, and broadcast either live or delayed to many countries abroad. It was not merely a title unification. It was a meeting of two prime champions whose styles gave the match its immediate shape: Leonard with speed, movement and combination punching; Hearns with height, reach, a punishing jab and a dangerous right hand.

Hearns began the fight with composure and authority. He used his height and long left jab to keep Leonard outside, stepping back after scoring and forcing the WBC champion to reset before he could get close enough to work. Leonard did not rush him, but in the early rounds, he found himself paying a price to reach punching range. Hearn’s jab was the best weapon in the ring during this opening phase. It marked Leonard, interrupted his rhythm and allowed Hearns to control the distance.

By the second and third rounds, Hearns had settled into a steady pattern. He did not fight like a reckless puncher looking for one blow. He boxed behind the jab, kept his right hand ready, and made Leonard move after him. Leonard tried to slip inside and counter, but he was often short with his punches or forced to throw from too far out. Hearns’ reach advantage was clear, and his confidence grew as Leonard struggled to establish his own pace.

Leonard had moments in the fourth and fifth, but Hearns was still taking the cleaner rounds. He boxed neatly, did not waste punches, and showed that his power was supported by sound control of range. After five rounds, Hearns had built a clear lead on the official cards. Leonard was not badly beaten up, but he had not solved the central problem of the fight. He was being kept at the end of Hearns’ jab, and he was falling behind.

The sixth round changed the contest. Leonard found the left hook and hurt Hearns for the first time. It was not a flash moment. Hearns was shaken, his legs stiffened, and Leonard moved in with purpose. The champion’s hand speed, which had been blunted while he was outside, became a serious factor once he closed the range. Leonard attacked with hooks and combinations, forcing Hearns to hold and retreat. Emanuel Steward in Hearns’ corner now had a different fight to manage. His unbeaten champion had been made to feel Leonard’s power.

Leonard pressed the advantage in the seventh. Hearns, so composed in the first five rounds, was made to work under pressure. Leonard was quicker in the exchanges and began to land with both hands. He went to the body and head, and Hearns was no longer dictating matters with the jab. Leonard’s success came not from outboxing Hearns at long range, but from making the taller man fight under stress and at shorter distances.

Hearns survived that difficult spell and made an important adjustment. From the eighth round, he became more mobile, using the ring instead of standing in front of Leonard. He boxed with greater caution, jabbed, moved and made Leonard chase. It was a disciplined change that restored his lead. Leonard, who had spent heavily in his attack, began to tire. His left eye, injured in training and worsened during the contest, became increasingly troublesome.

From the ninth through the twelfth rounds, Hearns boxed with maturity. He circled, jabbed, and picked his moments to score. Leonard, still dangerous, was no longer able to sustain the same pressure he had applied in the sixth and seventh. Hearns’ legs had returned, and his reach again became the decisive factor. Leonard pressed in bursts, but Hearns was winning minutes, and the official cards reflected it. At the end of the twelfth, Leonard was behind and in need of a decisive finish.

In Leonard’s corner before the thirteenth round, Angelo Dundee gave him the instruction that became attached to the fight: he was blowing it. Leonard answered as a champion under pressure must answer. He came out for the thirteenth with urgency and attacked Hearns with both hands. Hearns tried to move and hold, but Leonard trapped him and drove him back. A heavy assault sent Hearns through the ropes, and he was counted. Later in the round, Leonard hurt him again and dropped him a second time near the bell. Hearns rose, but his condition had changed. His legs were weak, and the fight had turned again.

Even after the thirteenth, Hearns remained ahead on all three official scorecards. Duane Ford had him in front 124-122, Lou Tabat had him ahead 125-122, and Chuck Minker had him up 125-121. He needed only to remain upright and avoid disaster to win the decision. Leonard, knowing the position or at least sensing it, did not box the fourteenth as a man trying to steal a close round. He fought as a man trying to end the contest.

Early in the fourteenth, Leonard staggered Hearns with a right hand. Hearns backed toward the ropes, exhausted and hurt, and Leonard followed with a sustained attack. He threw to the body and head, forcing Hearns into a defensive shell. Hearns tried to survive, but he was no longer punching back with enough authority to keep Leonard away. Pearl watched closely as Leonard continued to land. With Hearns pinned near the ropes and taking unanswered punches, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

The stoppage brought a dramatic end to a contest that Hearns had been winning on points. It also completed one of Leonard’s finest victories. He had been outboxed early, had hurt Hearns in the middle rounds, had lost ground again when Hearns changed tactics, and then had found the finish when only a finish would do. Hearn left the ring with his first defeat, but not diminished in standing. He had boxed with discipline, courage and intelligence for much of the fight. Leonard left as undisputed welterweight champion, having proved not only his skill but his capacity to recover a contest that had moved beyond ordinary points calculations.

Another Ray Leonard fight that grabbed the public's attention like nothing else around that time. Of course, I don't mean to demean Thomas Hearns's reputation at the time. If anything, he was seen as the more destructive of the pair. He was a 6'1" welterweight with a massive right hand and the hardest jab, and he destroyed his opposition up until this point.

The build-up to this fight was sensational and on TV screens everywhere at the time. Remember, this is a period when there were far fewer TV outlets, and fights transcended boxing. Fights like Leonard vs Hearns and later Hagler vs Hearns became front-page news all over the world. Rarely today does that happen in quite the same fashion.

The fight didn't let down at all, with Hearns looking the dominant force in the early going and Ray Leonard getting peppered with that jab, closing his left eye and falling behind on points. And that moment in his corner, when his now deceased coach Angelo Dundee muttered those immortal words: "You're blowing it son, you're blowing it."

This is one of those fights that, if you were old enough to have enjoyed it at the time, you will know what it meant. In the larger scheme of things, it's very rare that you get two such dominant fighters meeting in their absolute primes and settle their score on such a huge public platform. This was one of those occasions, and it produced a fight worthy of the hype.